Bibliographic Resources

General Studies | Period Studies | Subject Studies

General Studies

D'Apéry, Tello J. Overbrook Farms: Its Historical Background, Growth and Community Life. Philadelphia: The Magee Press, 1936.

Daly, John, and Allan Weinberg. Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions, 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Department of Records, 1966.

Faris, John. Old Roads Out of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1917.

Glenn, Thomas Allen. Merion in the Welsh Tract: With Sketches of the Townships of Haverford. Norristown, PA: Herald Press, 1896.

Jackle, Robert Carl. Philadelphia Across the Schuylkill: Work, Transportation and Residence in West Philadelphia, 1860-1910. Unpublished Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1985.

Jackson, Joseph. America’s Most Historic Highway: Market Street, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: John Wanamaker, 1926.

Klein, Philip S., and Ari Hoogenboom. A History of Pennsylvania. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.

Lewis, John. The Redemption of the Lower Schuylkill. Philadelphia: City Parks Association, 1924.

Licht, Walter. Getting Work: Philadelphia, 1840-1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.

Meyers, Allen. Images of America: The Jewish Community of West Philadelphia. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.

Miller, Randall M., and William Pencak, eds. Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth. Penn State University Press, 2002.

Nolan, J. Bennett. The Schuylkill. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1951.

O’Mara, Margaret Pugh. "Building Brainsville: The University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia." In Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.

"Philadelphia Neighborhoods: Histories, Plans, and Futures, 1946-1990." University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Redding, Richard. The Plan for West Philadelphia. Philadelphia: The Philadelphia City Planning Commission, 1994.

Rosenthal, Leon S. A History of Philadelphia’s University City. Philadelphia: Printing Office of the University of Pennsylvania, 1963.

"Stories from PA History." ExplorePAhistory.com.

Vieira, Laffitte. West Philadelphia Illustrated. Philadelphia: Avil Printing Co., 1903.

Warner, Sam Bass. The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of its Growth. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968.

Weaver, William. West Philadelphia: A Study of Natural Social Areas: Population figures for West Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Westbrook Co., 1930.

"West Philadelphia Campus." University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania. 

Period Studies

PRE HISTORY - 1640

Dunn, Jacub Piatt. True Indian Stories: With Glossary of Indiana Indian Names. Indianapolis, IN: Sentinel Printing Company, 1909.

Kraft, Herbert. The Lenape of Delaware Indians. New Jersey: Lenape Lifeways, Inc., 2005.

"Native American Sites in the City of Philadelphia." Philadelphia Archaeological Forum.

Richter, Daniel. Native Americans’ Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2005.

Schutt, Amy. Peoples of the River Valley: The Odyssey of the Delaware Indian. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Sugrue, Thomas J. "The Peopling and Depeopling of Early Pennsylvania: Indians and Colonists, 1680-1720." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 116 (1992): 3-31.

Weslager, Clinton Alfred. The Delaware Indians: A History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1972.

1640 – 1854

Becker, Marshall Joseph. "Lenape Population at the Time of European Contact: Estimating Native Numbers in the Lower Delaware Valley." Symposium on the Demographic History of the Philadelphia Region 1600-1860, ed. Susan Klepp, 133, no. 2 (1989): 112-122.

Biond, Lawrence J. "West Philadelphia and Powelton History District Development Timeline." Powelton Village Philadelphia.

Glenn, Thomas Allen. Merion in the Welsh Tract: With Sketches of the Townships of Haverford. Norristown, PA: Herald Press, 1896.

"History: The Bartrams." Bartram’s Gardens.

Klepp, Susan. "Demography in Early Philadelphia, 1690-1860." Symposium on the Demographic History of the Philadelphia Region 1600-1860, ed. Susan Klepp, 133, no. 2 (1989): 85-111.

Thomas, George E., and Carol Benenson. "Powelton Historic District of University City." University City Historical Society.

1854-1907

"About America's First Zoo." Philadelphia Zoo.

Altadoona, Joseph Leigh. The School, Curriculum, and Community: A Case Study of  the Institutionalizing of Industrial Education in the Public Schools of Philadelphia, 1876-1918. Unpublished Ed.D. diss., Columbia University, 1983.

Cheape, Charles W. Moving the Masses: Urban Public Transit in New York, Boston and  Philadelphia 1880-1912. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980.

Croskey, John Welsh. History of Blockley: A History of the Philadelphia Hospital from its Inception, 1731-1928.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company, 1929.

Cutler, William W., and Howard Gillette, Jr. The Divided Metropolis: Social and Spatial Dimensions of Philadelphia, 1800-1975. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.

DeLeon, Clark. America ’s First Zoostory: 125 Years at the Philadelphia Zoo. Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Company Publishers, 1999.

"Eli K. Papers." Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library.

Grubel, Matt. "The Building of West Philadelphia: The City Beautiful, 1911-1930." West Philadelphia Community History Center.

Heath, Andrew. The Manifest Destiny of Philadelphia: Imperialism, Republicanism, and the Remaking of a City and Its People, 1837-1877. Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2008.

Hepp, John Henry. The Middle Class: Transforming Space and Time in Philadelphia, 1876-1926. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.

Horle, Craig W., Joseph S. Foster, and Jeffrey L. Scheib, eds. Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, vol. 2. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

Maass, John. The Glorious Enterprise: The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and H.J. Schwarzmann, Architect-in-Chief. New York: American Life Foundation, 1973.

Magee, Richard. Magee’s Illustrated Guide of Philadelphia and the Centennial Exhibition: A Guide and descriptions to all places of interest in or about Philadelphia, to the Centennial grounds and buildings, and Fairmount Park. Philadelphia: Richard Magee & Son, 1876.

Marsh, Margaret Sammartino. "Suburbanization and the Search for Community: Residential Decentralization in Philadelphia, 1880-1900." Pennsylvania History, 44, no. 2 (1977): 99-116.

Miller, Roger and Joseph Siry. "The Emerging Suburb: West Philadelphia 1850-1880." Pennsylvania History, 47, no. 2 (1980): 99-145.

Nicolai, Richard R. Centennial Philadelphia. Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr Press, 1976.

Rothman, David J. The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1971.

Sudak, Howard. "A Remarkable Legacy: Pennsylvania Hospital’s Influence on the Field of Psychiatry." University of Pennsylvania Health System.

1907-1956

"African American Baseball in Philadelphia." ExplorePAhistory.com.

"American Bandstand." ExplorePAhistory.com.

Countryman, Matthew. Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Darlington, Peggy, David Pirmann, and Gregory Jordan-Detamore. "Market Frankford El." nycsubway.org.

Hammonds, Kenneth A. Historical Directory of Presbyterian Churches and  Presbyteries of Greater Philadelphia: Elated to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and Its Antecedents, 1690-1990. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Historical Society, 1993.

Hillier, Amy. "Redlining and the Home Owners' Loan Corporation." Journal of Urban History, 29 (2003): 394-420.

Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Meyers, Allen. The Jewish Community in West Philadelphia. Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia Publishing Company, 2004.

Molloy, Ruth Branning. Finally. Lititz, PA: Sutter House, 2000.

Pierson, Daniela. An Ethnic History of West Philadelphia, 1870-1980: a Research Tool for Demographic Studies. Philadelphia: Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1994.

"Ruth Branning Molloy Collection." University Archives and Record Center, University of Pennsylvania.

"Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1916-1929 – Philadelphia: Vol.14, 1922." Digital Sanborn Maps.

"Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1916-1929 – Philadelphia: Vol.15, 1923." Digital Sanborn Maps.

SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Association).

Skaler, Robert Morris. Images of America: West Philadelphia University City to 52nd Street. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.

Swigart, Leigh. "Extended Lives: The African Immigrant Experience in Philadelphia." Balch Institute Community Profile. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Thayer, Preston, and Jed Porter. "West Philadelphia." In Workshop of the World.  Philadelphia: Oliver Evans Press, 1990.

Twelves, J. Wesley. A History of the Diocese of Pennsylvania of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A, 1784-1968. Philadelphia: Diocese of Pennsylvania, 1969. 

White, William P. The Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. A Camera and Pen Sketch of Each Presbyterian Church and Institution in the City. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott, 1895.

Subject Studies

Institution Building

"About America's First Zoo." Philadelphia Zoo.

Altadoona, Joseph Leigh. The School, Curriculum, and Community: A Case Study of the Institutionalizing of Industrial Education in the Public Schools of Philadelphia, 1876-1918. Unpublished Ed.D. diss., Columbia University, 1983.

Croskey, John Welsh. History of Blockley: A History of the Philadelphia Hospital from its Inception, 1731-1928.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company, 1929.

DeLeon, Clark. America ’s First Zoostory: 125 Years at the Philadelphia Zoo. Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Company Publishers, 1999.

Hammonds, Kenneth A. Historical Directory of Presbyterian Churches and Presbyteries of Greater Philadelphia: Elated to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and Its Antecedents, 1690-1990. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Historical Society, 1993.

"James MacAlister Papers." Drexel University Archives and Special Collections.

Rothman, David J. The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1971.

"Satterlee Hospital: A Civil War Hospital in West Philadelphia." University City Historical Society.

Sudak, Howard. "A Remarkable Legacy: Pennsylvania Hospital’s Influence on the Field of Psychiatry." University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Twelves, J. Wesley. A History of the Diocese of Pennsylvania of the Protestant Episcopal  Church in the U.S.A, 1784-1968. Philadelphia: Diocese of Pennsylvania, 1969.

White, William P. The Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. A Camera and Pen Sketch of Each Presbyterian Church and Institution in the City. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott, 1895.

Peopling West Philadelphia

Becker, Marshall Joseph. "Lenape Population at the Time of European Contact: Estimating Native Numbers in the Lower Delaware Valley." Symposium on the Demographic History of the Philadelphia Region 1600-1860, ed. Susan Klepp, 133, no. 2 (1989): 112-122.

Countryman, Matthew. Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Dunn, Jacub Piatt. True Indian Stories: With Glossary of Indiana Indian Names. Indianapolis, IN: Sentinel Printing Company, 1909.

Glenn, Thomas Allen. Merion in the Welsh Tract: With Sketches of the Townships of Haverford. Norristown, PA: Herald Press, 1896.

Klepp, Susan. "Demography in Early Philadelphia, 1690-1860." Symposium on the Demographic History of the Philadelphia Region 1600-1860, ed. Susan Klepp, 133, no. 2 (1989): 85-111.

Kraft, Herbert. The Lenape of Delaware Indians. New Jersey: Lenape Lifeways, Inc., 2005.

Marsh, Margaret Sammartino. "Suburbanization and the Search for Community: Residential Decentralization in Philadelphia, 1880-1900." Pennsylvania History, 44, no. 2 (1977): 99-116.

Molloy, Ruth Branning. Finally. Lititz, PA: Sutter House, 2000.

"Native American Sites in the City of Philadelphia." Philadelphia Archaeological Forum.

Pierson, Daniela. An Ethnic History of West Philadelphia, 1870-1980: a Research Tool for Demographic Studies. Philadelphia: Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1994.

Richter, Daniel. Native Americans’ Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2005.

"Ruth Branning Molloy Collection." University Archives and Record Center, University of Pennsylvania.

Schutt, Amy. Peoples of the River Valley: The Odyssey of the Delaware Indian. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

Sugrue, Thomas J. "The Peopling and Depeopling of Early Pennsylvania: Indians and Colonists, 1680-1720." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 116 (1992): 3-31.

Swigart, Leigh. "Extended Lives: The African Immigrant Experience in Philadelphia." Balch Institute Community Profile. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Weslager, Clinton Alfred. The Delaware Indians: A History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1972.

Political Developments

"Eli K. Papers." Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library.

Heath, Andrew. The Manifest Destiny of Philadelphia: Imperialism, Republicanism, and the Remaking of a City and Its People, 1837-1877. Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2008.

Horle, Craig W., Joseph S. Foster, and Jeffrey L. Scheib, eds. Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, vol. 2. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.

Montgomery, David. "The Shuttle and the Cross: Weavers and Artisans in the Kensington Riots of 1844." Journal of Social History, 5 (1972): 411-446.

Skaler, Robert Morris. Images of America: West Philadelphia University City to 52nd Street. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.

Popular Culture

"African American Baseball in Philadelphia." ExplorePAhistory.com.

"American Bandstand." ExplorePAhistory.com.

Real Estate Development

Biond, Lawrence J. "West Philadelphia and Powelton History District Development Timeline." Powelton Village Philadelphia.

Grubel, Matt. "The Building of West Philadelphia: The City Beautiful, 1911-1930." West Philadelphia Community History Center.

Hepp, John Henry. The Middle Class: Transforming Space and Time in Philadelphia, 1876-1926. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.

Hillier, Amy. "Redlining and the Home Owners' Loan Corporation." Journal of Urban History, 29 (2003): 394-420.

"History: The Bartrams." Bartram’s Gardens.

Maass, John. The Glorious Enterprise: The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and H.J. Schwarzmann, Architect-in-Chief. New York: American Life Foundation, 1973.

Magee, Richard. Magee’s Illustrated Guide of Philadelphia and the Centennial Exhibition: A Guide and descriptions to all places of interest in or about Philadelphia, to the Centennial grounds and buildings, and Fairmount Park. Philadelphia: Richard Magee & Son, 1876.

Miller, Roger and Joseph Siry. "The Emerging Suburb: West Philadelphia 1850-1880." Pennsylvania History, 47, no. 2 (1980): 99-145.

Nicolai, Richard R. Centennial Philadelphia. Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr Press, 1976.

O’Mara, Margaret Pugh. "Building Brainsville: The University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia." In Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.

"Profiles in Penn History: A Documentary History of Title to Penn's West Philadelphia Campus 1870-1900." University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania.

"Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1916-1929 – Philadelphia: Vol.14, 1922." Digital Sanborn Maps.

"Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1916-1929 – Philadelphia: Vol.15, 1923." Digital Sanborn Maps.

Thayer, Preston, and Jed Porter. "West Philadelphia." In Workshop of the World.  Philadelphia: Oliver Evans Press, 1990.

Thomas, George E., and Carol Benenson. "Powelton Historic District of University City." University City Historical Society.

Transportation Innovation

Cheape, Charles W. Moving the Masses: Urban Public Transit in New York, Boston and  Philadelphia 1880-1912. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980.

Cutler, William W., and Howard Gillette, Jr. The Divided Metropolis: Social and Spatial Dimensions of Philadelphia, 1800-1975. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.

Darlington, Peggy, David Pirmann, and Gregory Jordan-Detamore. "Market Frankford El." nycsubway.org.

Jackle, Robert Carl. Philadelphia Across the Schuylkill: Work, Transportation and Residence in West Philadelphia, 1860-1910. Unpublished Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1985.

Kephart, Beth. Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007.

Lewis, John Frederick. The Redemption of the Lower Schuylkill. Philadelphia: City Parks Association, 1924.

Miller, Roger and Joseph Siry. "The Emerging Suburb: West Philadelphia 1850-1880." Pennsylvania History, 47, no. 2 (1980): 99-145.

O’Mara, Margaret Pugh. "Building Brainsville: The University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia." In Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.

SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Association).